大象传媒

ITALY 鈥� THIRD VISIT cont.

November 6th saw us on the move again into a position a few miles north of Forlinpopoli. Our division was now reduced to one brigade the other two being in cadre form only and I believe that at this time the infantry were resting because our regiment joined 4th Division artillery at the end of October. Our new command post was in an empty house where we were able to make ourselves reasonably comfortable and we were not too busy once established in action. All next day we were occupied preparing a barrage. Such an operation is usually a leisurely affair because all the measurements and other details have to be checked and counter checked before they are passed to the guns. This particular barrage was fired off in the evening and we received a few shells in return which luckily were wide of their mark.

During our travels over the past few weeks from one part of the front to the other I can remember that we all passed over a bridge across a ravine at night whilst the Royal Engineers were still working on it using shaded lights and while I believe still within range of enemy shellfire. They took alarming risks in such circumstances and certainly I and no doubt most other men in the army had a very high opinion of their skill and bravery. In addition the Royal Engineers using Italian labour rebuilt many of the bridges that had been wrecked by enemy action and very handsome constructions they were with the 8th Army badge, a cross on a shield, at each end. I saw one of them some twelve years ago whilst on a holiday in Italy and it looked a first class piece of architecture and showed no signs of ageing.

Returning to the story or perhaps I should say diary, during the next five days the Infantry captured Forli a modest sized town which had connections with Benito Mussolini who was born six miles to the south in the village of Predappio. Quite a large part of one day was spent sorting out maps, a never ending job and then to our amazement we received a visit from our Divisional Commander General Whitfield. With the division out of action for the time being except for the artillery maybe he decided to take the opportunity to look at and bolster the morale of individual units. Something he could not do in normal circumstances.

About this stage of the war I also lost my command post officer for a few weeks as he was seconded to assist the Friuli Group, which was composed of Italian soldiers, with their artillery work, and was for him a pleasant interlude. He had been suffering from 鈥淒esert sores鈥� for a month or two and the treatment tended to be Eusol followed by Mag. Sulph, followed by Sulphanilamide followed by Dry Dressing, followed as often as not by the sequence as before! When he got to the Italians they said they had been sent into action with virtually no drugs. Why, they did not know. But they had alcohol, so they would use alcohol and the complaint cleared up in two days!

The weather was now getting quite chilly and so we made a store out of a disused 鈥榗harge box鈥� which was rectangular in shape. It was quite effective although it smoked occasionally but most important of all it warmed up our command post. November 13th saw us off on a reconnaissance early in the morning and we found a very good command post position just north of Forli. We were not very busy at this time and were able to write a few letters, play cards as we were still struggling with the game of Bridge and wash our dirty underwear. And of course darn our woollen socks which were always breaking out into holes and needed constant attention. I received some books from home which I enjoyed reading especially as there was a distinct shortage of literature in the wartime army. One night the Germans put in an attack and we were kept busy until the next day when news came through that we were being relieved by the 2nd New Zealand Division.

On November 18th, in the morning we handed over to the Kiwis, people we always liked to meet and have a chat with and moved out that evening. We harboured south west of Cesena and were asleep by about 8pm in what appeared, so far as we could see in the makeshift lighting, a large and probably somewhat ancient brick barn. We were up again at 0245 hours and on the move by 0400 hours and travelled on a route which took us through Fano and Pesaro as part of a very long detour to arrive finally at our destination, Formignano just after midday. It was a smooth and uneventful journey and no doubt was necessarily long to avoid getting entangled with vital traffic going to and from the fighting areas.

We spent ten days here billeted in this hilltop town which had a large main square surrounded by shops and houses where we slept during our brief stay. As I remember that period we had quite an enjoyable and relaxing time and although we were well into the Italian winter the weather was dry for most of the time. For the more amorous among us this was a good town in which to stay because all the able bodied men had either been conscripted and captured long ago or had been carried off by the Germans to build defensive fortifications further north. The only remaining males were either far too young or too old!

For the first few days Ernie was away which left me, as the senior NCO, with the job of running the troop as well as looking after my specialists section. The better part of the first three days was spent on physical checks of everything we had in the way of equipment. The 20th was my birthday but it must have passed unnoticed for I made no mention of it in my diary. The 22nd saw me travelling to Fermo and Porto S. Georgio to see the dentist and Fermo turned out to be a very nice place indeed. I was on guard on the 24th. It was only a twelve hour affair and not at all troublesome for the town was deserted at night.

The next evening we saw a show of some kind or other featuring a Gabrealle Brune but who she was and what her act was I just cannot remember. Sunday November 26th was quiet as would be expected and was celebrated by a morning church service. In the afternoon we were entertained by one of our infantry battalions who produced a concert from among their own troops called 鈥淭he Mikado鈥� and it was really well worth seeing. And should not be confused with the play by Gilbert and Sullivan. We then had two wet days and on one of them I went to Macerata to buy some eggs but at 25 lire, the equivalent of one shilling and threepence each in English money they were far too dear. Macerata is quite old and is surrounded by medieval walls and boasts a university but was no place to go shopping.

I was detailed for another stint in charge of the guard and was on duty until the following evening. After dismounting I had to pack up our command post vehicles and then retired for an early night鈥檚 sleep. In the morning we were up at 0500 hours and were on our way cold and dreary and although I travelled in a covered jeep I was none too warm. I should explain that most units with jeeps had converted them from the open drophead style to a totally covered and enclosed model in order that their passengers could enjoy the maximum protection from the weather. All manner of ingenious conversions were conjured up, from bits of packing cases to attaching the top sections of abandoned saloon cars. Leather jerkins were also improved by having sleeves made from US army blankets sewn on. Unfortunately I was never issued with one, the limited number available going to line signallers, drivers and gunners all of whom had the most exposed jobs so far as the weather was concerned.

To get back to our journey, we were on the road all day, making the detour in reverse and did not arrive at our harbour area in Cesena until after dark. We spent twelve days here in which so far as I can remember was a small town with a castle or fortification of some kind or other. My one very clear memory of this spot was waking up one morning to the most awful stench and on looking out of the rather high rear windows discovered that we overlooked the family muck heap and mum, dad and their grown up children were bare foot in this liquid mess in a large concrete enclosure turning the contents over and over. You can well imagine the comments from the lads!

One night in this position two German planes droned away overhead for what seemed ages and eventually dropped a few bombs around the area but whether they caused any serious damage I never found out. When we left Farmignano we realised we would be going back into the fighting and so I and the other members of my little group were more or less standing by and waiting to be called out on a reconnaissance sooner or later. In the meantime we pottered about, occasionally listened to the wireless, read and wrote letters and even went on two route marches. There was lots of rain and everywhere and everything was muddy. In face we really got fed up with the stuff. Our barn, for that is what our living quarters must have been, was cold and bare although quite adequate in the circumstances. We went to the pictures twice in the evenings and one film was 鈥�49th Parallel鈥�. Some of the men got together a homemade band which, if not very musical, was at least funny and helped to pass the time.

It was at this time that we began to be rationed by a shortage of shells. Apparently production by the Allies had been slowed down or stopped on the assumption that the war in Europe would come to an end around December 1944/January 1945 but nobody had told the enemy. As a result of this wrong or mistaken assessment of the fighting, we were faced with having to spend the winter restricted to twenty rounds per gun per day! What a way to run a war!

On December 13th we carried out our reconnaissance. The ground was very wet but finally we found a battery position roughly between Forli and Faenza and to the north between the Rivers Lamone and Montone. For the first two days we were not all that busy. Our guns were called upon to fire now and again but not very often. In fact the enemy shot more at us during the first night in this position. To keep ourselves warm we took turns at sawing up logs in our spare time, for a slow burning fire was kept alight continuously in the command post. During December 17th Faenza was captured to the accompaniment of a great deal of air activity. This was followed by two days of comparative quiet and during this period several of us had a good wash down. I would not say that it was a pleasant affair considering the air temperature at the time and the rather limited supply of water which we heated up on our makeshift stove. The problem was that all water was brought to us by specially designed trucks and had to be used with a certain amount of care. Indeed at one time we were having to stretch a mug of water to clean our teeth, wash our hands and faces, shave and finally made use of to clean our boots during this very muddy period. Generally however waster was not a problem and on this occasion we felt very lucky indeed to be able to freshen up ourselves.

December 20th and 21st turned out to be rather quiet during the day but extremely busy in the evenings when we were called upon to work out smallish barrages which were fired during the night in support of local attacks by our infantry. These mini battles not only needed artillery support to help the infantry gain their objectives but if successful or even if not, further backup was needed to help fend off enemy counterattacks and this kept us fully occupied. This we preferred as it helped pass the time quickly and kept us on our toes.

On December 23rd my command post officer, myself and a signaller was ordered off on a reconnaissance with similar parties from the other batteries in the regiment. The plan was that the New Zealanders on our left would put in an attack on Christmas Day along the River Senio and it would be supported not only by their own guns but by our regimental artillery as well. Therefore it was necessary for us to find new positions for our guns somewhere at the rear of the Kiwis sector. In these circumstances we had to make quite a detour to get to the allocated area as it was important that the enemy did not discover what was going on. He did spot us however during the afternoon when halted and an odd shell came our way but maybe it was a stray.

By the evening nothing very much had been achieved except that we were somewhere in the rear of the New Zealand sector. So we found a suitable outbuilding of a farmhouse, cooked our own evening meal which was no hardship and finally got to bed rather late. The next day was Christmas Eve and we hung about for a very long time, even for a reconnaissance, and during the early afternoon we were most definitely spotted by the Germans who shelled us very suddenly without a ranging shot. I can still see in my minds eye the bursts all along one side of our jeeps as we all threw ourselves to the ground. By a miracle on one was hurt and not a thing was damaged, probably because the blast was going away from us. Well we all moved off very quickly, stopped again, hung around again and finally were told that the attack had been postponed for the time being. We managed to find a barn big enough for the whole party and as we had a fair amount of vino we spent the evening dining and celebrating Christmas Eve in style.

December 25th dawned and we tottered out of our makeshift beds, had a breakfast of sorts and made our way leisurely back to the established battery positions. All was quiet as we set off, not a hostile sound, in fact not a sound of any kind as both sides celebrated Christmas with a modicum of goodwill by not attempting for just one day, to destroy each other. Back at the battery, on entering our command post, we were greeted with the sight of the two trestle tables literally groaning with the weight of bottles of various different drinks. We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner and the four Italians who lived in the house, mother, father, son and niece joined in as our guests. A really wonderful time was had by all and the party went on until quite late into the evening. Finally I settled down in a corner and read a few pages of a book before turning in. It is an appropriate time to pay a compliment to the cook who produced the food for our group of about twenty three soldiers including at least one and more often, two officers. To the best of my memory he never produced a bed or even a mediocre meal and if he was ever able to obtain a little extra of one ingredient or another he always put it to very good use.

Boxing Day began quietly with nothing doing outside of routine matters such as keeping maps up to date, sending in ammunition returns etc, but by nightfall the party came to life again and we had another very jolly evening. I did not feel all that bright the next day but improved a little with the passing of time. There was some desultory firing in both directions but it was all very half hearted.

December 28th was a clearing and cleaning up day. Everything had to be made shipshape because it was not really possible to run an efficient operations centre otherwise. Another very good reason was that if our commanding officer happened to pay us a visit and things were not just right we all would be for the high jump. During each of the next two days we had to turn out on a reconnaissance to survey alternative positions. The general idea I suppose was that if we had to make a sudden move for one reason or another then we could do so with the minimum of upset, all the necessary survey having been undertaken.

The last day of the year was a Sunday. It was quiet most of the time but we organised a large command post party in the evening with people seeming to appear and disappear at regular intervals. My only clear recollection was that at some stage I entered into a heated argument with one of the officers batmen over some trivial subject or other which I have long forgotten. Naturally we saw in the New Year with several rounds of assorted drinks before collapsing into our various corners.

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